


A Thousand Graves (Afterwards)

by say_lene



Category: The Arcana (Visual Novel)
Genre: Angst, F/F, F/M, M/M, Other, unspecified MC gender, xiii death spoilers
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2018-07-04
Updated: 2018-07-04
Packaged: 2019-06-05 04:59:54
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 387
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/15163199
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/say_lene/pseuds/say_lene
Summary: Afterwards, he makes himself tea.(Asra angst, ok?)





	A Thousand Graves (Afterwards)

Afterwards, he makes himself tea.

His hands aren't shaking. Faust winds herself around his thigh, then up over his chest, hissing when her forked tongue tastes the air. It's heavy, almost sodden with magical power.

But not the pleasant kind.

Asra runs a single steady finger over her head. It helps to calm her writhing, but her discomfort lingers. He knows he should be nervous too.

It worries him that he's not.

 

_Laughter breaks the stillness. The salamander puffs away happily, grateful for affection over breakfast. Asra's grateful, too, but he thinks he hides it better. Those warm fingers are gentle when they brush back his hair._

_"You look tired today."_

 

Ilya's still sleeping it off half an hour later. Asra's tea is getting cold. The arcane fog is still hanging in the air, and Asra can't bring himself to move. He's not sure what he expects to happen - but there has to be _something_.

He's all out of good ideas. What's the point of all this magic if it can't do what he needs?

When Ilya wakes up, he's ready for affection. Asra lets him have it, though it still feels a lot like lying. He's said it a hundred times. _I can't give you what you want._

 

_"I can't leave, Asra."_

_The words are soft, but still as sharp as bared steel. They're final. They're wrong._

_"And what if you never get to?" Asra shouldn't be angry. He doesn't want to be - but fear and dreadful certainty blur together in his chest, and they tumble out like shards amidst a rockfall. "What if we're next?"_

_"You leave, then." People have turned away from Asra before, but it's never hurt like this. "I won't stop you."_

Ilya finally goes, and the last trace of magic leaves with him. The ritual didn't work, and Asra doesn't know what to do. He spends the night curled up on the magic shop floor.

 

_"I'm sorry!"_

_He sobs it into the ashen sand. He screams it at the cloud-lashed sky. He's lying here amidst a thousand graves, but all his broken heart has space to mourn is one._

_"I shouldn't have left you. I shouldn't have left!"_

_No one hears him crying. No one stops by to tell him it's a dream._

_And Asra is all out of good ideas._


End file.
